The Beginning
by The Master of Heroes
Summary: In the far off world of Luxia, a new adventure is about to begin for Sonic and friends!
1. Encounters

Series 1: Heroes of Luxia

Ep. 01:The Beginning

**Hey, everyone. I thought I ought to get this up since, as you might know, today is Sonic's 20th anniversary! Anyway, hope you enjoy! - MH**

The sounds of battle filled the air around Luxia City. Dozens of troopers dashed along the metallic roads of the city. They hurried and took cover along the alleys to the side of the road. They pressed their bodies covered with green metallic armor against the walls of the many skyscrapers. On their shoulder pads was the emblem of their army: a blue and green planet in space with the letters G.E.A.R (Galactic Enforcement Army and Representatives) across it.

The team's leader, Commander Nex, was breathing silently in his helmet, waiting.

"What should we do Commander?" One of the troopers, Panther, asked him.

"Shh. Wait," Nex whispered.

The whole world seemed to fall into silence. Just as the Commander began to wonder what had happened, an explosion shook the skyscraper next to them.

As Swift looked down the road, he saw a squad of Stormers heading towards them. The robots had white armor with yellow stripes sometimes cutting across it. They were armed with small missile launchers on their shoulders, and laser rifle in one arm.

The Stormers took one look at the troopers and started to fire.

"Take cover!" Nex shouted to his men.

The troopers quickly rushed to the sides of the streets, taking cover by anything they could find and started to fire back at the robots.

"All units," Nex told them, "Focus your firepower on splitting the group!"

The group fought ferociously, but even split, the mechs were leaving a trail of destruction.

"Drat! They're causing too much damage!" A trooper shouted.

"Hunter's right. We need to finish this off as quick as possible!" Nex told the others.

The trooper fought as hard as they could, but were starting to be pushed back.

"Blast!" Nex cursed, "Where is he?"

Suddenly something zoomed past him and smashed into one of the nearby robots, sending it crashing down. When he looked, he saw a blue hedgehog standing with a smirk on his face.

"Sonic!" He shouted.

"Sorry I'm late guys. Need any help?" Sonic asked them.

"As much as you can give us," Nex told him.

Sonic smiled and dashed forward.

The Stormers all spotted him and started firing. Sonic simply zoomed side-to-side to avoid the shots as he rushed towards them. He jumped and Spin Dashed straight to the first one, destroying it. He landed on the head of one of the others. A nearby robot saw him and fired. Sonic jumped, causing the shot to hit the robot he was on. The robot staggered a bit and looked up, trying to see him. The second tried to fire once more only to hit the other bot once more.

"Too easy," he said as he landed on the ground, the bot _clunked_ to the ground.

With his help, the troopers slowly began to push the Stormers back.

Then, one of the Stormers activated its boosters and rocketed towards him.

"Catch me if you can!" Sonic taunted as he ran up one of the buildings.

The robot used its boosters to rocket up to the roof of the building, where Sonic was waiting. Once he landed the robot immediately began firing. Sonic ran around the roof, avoiding the shots. The robot didn't let up though, and continued to fire. After a while he managed to create an explosion close to where he was running, sending him backwards, hanging off the edge of the building.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he said as he looked at the _long_ way down.

The robot slowly approached him and pointed his gun. Just as it was about to fire though, something smashed into it from behind, sending the robot falling off the building. When Sonic looked, he saw a dark red hedgehog standing.

"Need any help?" the hedgehog asked, smiling.

"Thanks," Sonic said as the hedgehog helped him up.

"Come on," the hedgehog told him as he ran down the building. Sonic quickly followed him.

When they reached the ground, they saw that there were only a few robots left.

"Let me handle these," the hedgehog told him.

Only then did Sonic notice what the hedgehog had in his hands. A long, shining sword with some type of markings on it. He smirked and ran at the robots. He reached the first one and slashed the sword straight through him. They all started firing at him, but he simply dodged side to side. He jumped and landed on the head of another one. He dived the sword straight through the robots head. The robots head sent off a few sparks and exploded, along with the rest of the body. Sonic was amazed as he saw the hedgehog slash and slash, downing one Stormer after another. Finally, there was nothing left but metal scraps. The troopers all cheered at Sonic and the red hedgehog.

Suddenly a violet hedgehog came running at them. "Luke!" She told the hedgehog beside Sonic.

"Relax, Karyn," the red hedgehog told her.

"Wait a second," Sonic interrupted, "Who are you two?"

**Well, there it is! The first chapter! I'll update as soon as I can. Anyway, Sonic does not belong to me.**

**He is property of SEGA. All other locations and characters belong to me.**

**Read and review!**


	2. Luke and Karyn

**Alright, everyone! Here's the next chapter! I am sooooo sorry about the huge wait. Hope you can forgive me. I'd give you an apology, put I'm not sure you're willing to read 38 pages of that so here's the next chapter instead! - MH**

A long silence hung in the air.

"Well, what kind of a thank you is that?" the red hedgehog said, chuckling.

"Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm thankful and all, but you'll have to understand I'm not used to random strangers jumping out with a sword and saving my life," Sonic explained.

"I get it," the red hedgehog said, resting his sword on his shoulder and stretching out a hand. "Name's Luke. Luke the Hedgehog. And this is my partner Karyn." He motioned to the purple hedgehog standing behind him.

"Pleased to meet you," she told Sonic while shaking his hand, smiling warmly.

"Sonic," he told them both while shaking their hands. "So what brings you here Luke?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping you could help me," he started.

"Help?" Sonic asked.

Luke sighed. "It's a long story."

"It started when I was ten years old. That's when the Stormers came to my town, killing everyone and destroying everything. My parents led me to safety, then went back to try to protect the town. When I came back, there was no sign of them, and the town was in ruins. I was desolate.

I started to travel, hoping that my parents were still alive somewhere. During one of my journeys, I was attacked by a pack of wolves. I would have been doomed if it hadn't been for a group of strange figures with swords that jumped out of nowhere and fended off the wolf attack. When it was over, they introduced themselves to me as the Blademasters, a secret group of mercenaries who took in abandoned people like me and taught them in the art of sword-fighting. They offered me a chance to join. So I did.

They led me to their academy, a group of white stone and wooden buildings in the middle of a forest. For three years I trained there, learning to fight and honing my skills. The leaders of the academy were amazed at my quick learning. They soon began to allow me to go on training missions. It was on one of these training missions that I met Karyn. She was then part of a group of female assassins. I rescued her from a burning building, and we began to tell each other our stories. I was surprised to learn how much we had in common, and we kept in touch after that.

One day, the night before my first official assignment, a fire broke out in the academy. The leaders led us to safety, and we watched everything burn. When the head count was over, we realized that the headmaster was not with us. Somebody mentioned that they had seen him locked up in his office. I couldn't just stand there. I grabbed my sword I was carrying, burst from the crowd, and ran to the headmaster's office.

I quickly ran into the main building. The wooden floors and walls burst into flames all around me. At one point, I stumbled and fell straight into a flaming carpet. I squinted my eyes and braced myself for the pain. Yet I felt no heat. I opened my eyes and slowly stood up. I was shocked, but quickly moved on.

I used my sword to chop down the door to the headmaster's office. I looked around and found the headmaster underneath the rubble of his collapsed desk. I quickly pulled him out of there. While I was doing so however, a piece of the roof fell straight toward us. I once more braced myself and raised my arms. When I looked up the flaming wooden bar was hovering above me. I was completely confused. I threw my arms forward and watched the flaming bar crash through the office's window and go soaring outside. I was amazed, but I had no time to waste. I hefted the headmaster on my shoulders, grabbed my sword, and went soaring out the window just as the office exploded. I flew through the air, terrified of the moment when I would crash into the ground. I put my arms underneath me to attempt to soften the fall. Yet when I opened my eyes, I was floating, a current of air underneath me. I stood up, and the air underneath me disappeared, and I landed safely on the ground.

The rest of the members and masters crowded around us. When the headmaster finally woke up, he thanked me. He explained that the reason he was locked in his office was because he had been reading reports of a blue hedgehog and his friends helping to protect the planets. He told me that if I wanted to find out about myself, I should seek you out. I called Karyn and convinced her to come with me. So here I am," he finished.

"Wow..." Sonic said, amazed.

"So Sonic...do you know anything about my parents?" Luke asked, looking at him carefully.

Sonic slowly shook his head. "No. I'm sorry..." he said sadly.

Luke sighed, his ears drooping. Karyn tried to comfort him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"...but maybe the others know something," Sonic continued hopefully.

"Others?" asked Luke. Sonic grinned.

"Here, follow me."

Sonic led Luke and Karyn away from the battlefield to the outskirts of the city. Slowly, they came to the edge of the forest, where they found a large building.

"Whoa," Karyn said, impressed.

Before them stood a large building with a strange structure. There were four tall towers on all four corners. The building itself was large, with a medieval style architecture. Upon stepping inside, Luke and Karyn saw before the a large hallway, with two stairs on either side, leading to an upstairs level. They went neither way, with Sonic instead leading them to a room on the right. There were some couches, a fireplace, and a door leading to an underground room, from where flashes and sounds of machinery could be heard.

Stretched out on one of the couches was a red echidna, his arms folded behind his head. His eyes shifted slightly when he heard the door open, but he kept them shut.

"Hey Tails, come over here! I got some friends I want you to meet," Sonic called out through the open door to the underground room. A few moments later, a yellow fox with two tails came up the stairs into the room they were in, smiling.

"Hey, Sonic! What took you so long? I was-," he started, then noticed Luke and Karyn standing there.

He looked at them, puzzled. "Who are they, Sonic?" he asked.

Sonic chuckled. "Right. I guess introductions are in order."

"...and that's it," Luke finished after retelling his story.

Everyone was in awed silence. Knuckles finally spoke up.

"That's some story. You got anything to prove it?" he challenged.

Luke looked at him. Suddenly he raised his sword, and a bright light appeared at its tip, temporarily blinding everyone in the room. He then slashed the sword down, and a deep darkness enveloped the room. Luke stretched out his hands, and streaks of lighting shot out towards a lamp, energizing the light bulb and restoring light. He then stretched his hand behind him, and a rock came flying through the open window and into his hand. He turned around, threw the rock up, lashed towards it with his sword, and a gust of wind blew it out the window. He pointed his hand at a glass of water, and the liquid flew out of the cup, forming into a ball shape floating above his hand. He dissolved the water, pointed the sword at the fireplace, and a bolt of fire shot out, igniting the fireplace, causing Knuckles, who had been leaning against it, to jump in surprise.

"Show off," Knuckles grumbled

"How did you do that?" Tails said, awed. Luke shrugged

"Ever since the fire, I've found out about the rest over time."

He sighed. "So, do you know anything about my parents?" he asked hopefully.

Nobody answered. Luke's head drooped. Karyn once more tried to comfort him.

"Hey, wait a minute," Tails suddenly said, rushing next to Luke and looking at his sword. He ran his fingers through it, looking at something close to the edge of the blade.

"What is it?" asked Sonic.

"Look."

Inscribed on the the sword was a strange symbol. It consisted of a ring in which there were seven small circles, a different symbol in each one. In the space in the middle of the ring was a four-pointed star.

"We've seen this before Sonic, remember?" Tails eagerly asked him.

"What do you-oh! The cave!" Sonic remembered.

"Cave?" asked Karyn.

Everyone looked at Sonic. He couldn't explain why, but he got the feeling things were about to get a lot more complicated. _Who knows what we'll find, _he thought. _I've got a feeling that we're just getting started. _He smiled.

"What are we waiting for? Come on and we'll show you!"

**Well, there we finally go!**

**Seriously, this has got to be a record for longest time to update. Don't worry though, now that the obstacle of Luke's backstory is finally out of the way, things are about to get really interesting!**

**Chapter 3 coming soon!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sonic, his friends, or anything that is property of SEGA.**

**All original characters, locations, etc. are Copyright 2013 to ME.**


	3. The Secret of Ratzu Cave

**Why would you look at that, I'm finally starting to update like a normal person :). Don't worry, though, I'm here to stay to stay. The story of the Heroes of Luxia is one that must be told!**

** -MH**

The group of five trekked trough the forest. From amongst the trees the cries of birds could be heard. Their footsteps hardly made a sound as they trod upon the soft earth soil. Luke took in the breathtaking sights of the forest, then trotted up to Sonic, who was in the lead.

"So Sonic..." Luke began. "Tell me more about this cave."

"Well, it happened a few months ago when G.E.A.R hired us to help them capture a fugitive who had escaped prison and was roaming the forest. We chased him, but he kept evading us.

Eventually we saw him enter the cave, Ratzu Cave. We chased him, but it wasn't easy. The cave was huge, and it branched off into a bunch of side paths. Some paths were long, others short, and it was difficult to tell where we were going. We had no clue how to find the fugitive.

At one point, it seemed some side paths grew closer and closer, until they merged into one path. We followed it to the very end, where we found the fugitive sprawled on the floor, a rock fallen on him. We lifted him up to try to free him, but as soon as the rock was off, he shoved me into the dead end wall. As soon as I touched the wall however, something strange happened. The wall started to glow, and when I looked at it there was a strange golden symbol there. We all started at it in awe. Knuckles took advantage of the moment to smack the fugitive on the head, knocking him unconscious. We handcuffed him, and began to take him away. While we did so, I turned around to look at the symbol one more time. But when I looked back, it was gone," Sonic finished.

"A symbol... like the one on my sword?" Luke asked. Sonic nodded.

"Exactly."

Luke looked at his sword. The symbol seemed to have a strange aura to it. '_What could it all mean?' _he thought...

The group continued to walk on until they came to a large clearing. Ahead of them stood a large mountain, a small entrance located at the base. They all walked up to it then hesitated.

"Here it is. Ratzu Cave," Sonic told them. The dark cave seemed to beckon to them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Luke asked.

"Of course it is," Knuckles said confidently. His lips began to form a nervous smile as he stared at the cave. "...You go first," he nervously added.

Sonic drew a deep breath and began to walk towards the entrance. He couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. Suddenly he heard a noise. He jumped back, terrified. He once again started to creep slowly forward until.

"SONIKKU!" A girl's voice called from nowhere as Sonic felt himself tackled sideways. He barely had time to cry out in surprise before he was suddenly on the ground, a pink figure pinning him down.

"Amy?!" Sonic asked in disbelief. Before he could ask any more, she had wrapped herself tightly around him, disallowing him to breathe or speak.

"Where have you been, sweetie? I've missed you all day!" Amy said as she cuddled in his chest. The rest of the group gathered around, simply watching. Luke and Karyn were thoroughly confused.

"You know her?" Luke asked.

"Of course he does!" Amy exclaimed, turning to face him while she kept Sonic pinned down. "I'm his girlfriend!"

Sonic took advantage of the moment to loosen her grip on him.

"I wouldn't say girlfriend..." he began.

Amy tightened herself around him once more. "Oh, Sonikku, always so shy!"

"Amy, get off!" Sonic gasped, finally pushing her off. He stood up.

"Oh, fine. But don't think I'm done with you yet!" She told him, resting her head on his shoulder as she twiddled around his chest with her finger.

Sonic sighed in defeat. "So...yeah. Amy, these are my new friends Luke and Karyn."

Amy stopped to look at them. She tilted her head. "Oh, are you a couple?" she asked them. Luke and Karyn looked at each other and blushed.

"What? No! She's just my friend!" Luke explained, still blushing.

"Hm," Amy said thoughtfully.

Knuckles coughed. "Um, excuse me, but I do believe we had something to do?" he reminded them.

"Right," Sonic remembered. He walked towards the entrance, gesturing behind him.

"Follow me!"

The group walked on through the large cavern under the mountain. It had been pitch black at first, and Luke had to use his powers to light the area. Slowly and slowly, a tiny speck in the distance grew brighter and brighter until, after jumping down from a ledge, they found themselves in a tunnel lined with glowing crystals of various colors.

"Wow!" Karyn exclaimed in awe.

"Beautiful," Luke said, entranced.

"I can't believe nobody else has ever found these!" Karyn said as she admired. Tails laughed.

"Oh, people know. They just don't care," Tails explained.

"Why not?" Karyn asked.

"Because, these crystals have no real value. Watch." Tails yanked a purple crystal from the wall. Immediately, it was as if a switch had been flipped. Within seconds, the color dimmed and dimmed until the crystal was a pale gray.

"These crystals get their shine and color from some type of mineral network that runs through the cave. If they are removed from the cave, they immediately lose their color, even if they are put back. We call them chromesicles," Tails explained.

"Strange," Karyn commented.

A short while later, the group walked into a room of some sort. There were chromesicles all over the place, and on one end of the room were multiple entrances to various different tunnel.

"Alright, follow me!" Sonic told them. "If you take a wrong turn you could get lost very easily."

"How do you know which tunnel is right?" Luke asked, walking to one of the entrances. His foot had barely stepped into it when suddenly there was a rumbling sound, followed by a terrible vibration. He jumped to the side, and the tunnel collapsed where seconds before he had been standing.

"Well, probably not that one," Sonic said, smiling as he helped Luke up. Luke grinned.

"Come on guys," Tails gestured to them as they walked into one of the other tunnels. The group followed.

On and on, the group ventured through the dark twists and turns of the cave. The cave had a very strange, very unstable foundation. Various parts of the cave had a strange structure. At one point, there was a giant gap in the tunnel, and Luke once more had to use his powers. The red hedgehog stretched out his hand, and suddenly, dozens of random pebbles and rocks flew towards the gap, forming a ragged, floating bridge, which the group used to cross.

At a later point, the group came to another room which had lava covering the floor. Luke took a deep breath and lashed both his arms to his sides, and the lava suddenly parted, clearing a path for them. They walked on to the next tunnel in front of them.

"Impressive," Sonic admired.

Over time, they all noticed that the number of tunnels started to decrease, and soon they came to a final room that had but one entrance. They went through it.

"Look!" Amy exclaimed when they reached the end of the tunnel.

Sonic walked up to the wall at the end of the tunnel. "Hm...," he said thoughtfully.

He put his palm on the wall and suddenly a bright light appeared, temporarily blinding them all. Slowly the light lessened, and when they opened their eyes, they saw a golden symbol on the wall, just like the one on Luke's sword.

"Wow," Luke awed.

"What do we do know?" Amy asked.

"Um...," Sonic said, out of ideas.

"DO NOT tell me we came all this way for nothing," Knuckles said, frustrated.

"Calm down, we'll figure it out," Sonic assured him.

Knuckles sighed exasperatedly. He was tired of walking around. He frowned, then noticed Luke sword, which the hedgehog had resting on his shoulders. Impatience overcame him, and he suddenly he snatched up the sword.

"Gimme that!" Knuckles yelled.

"Hey!" Luke exclaimed.

Knuckles drew the sword up, and was about to slash it down on the wall when Luke grabbed the handle, trying to pull it back. He did what he could, but Knuckles had some serious strength.

"Let go!" Knuckles yelled, managing to push Luke off.

Luke put one hand behind him to avoid being slammed into the wall, and gripped the sword even tighter with the other. He felt his hand touch the wall. All of a sudden, the symbol on the wall started to glow again. At the same moment, the same symbol on Luke's sword also started to glow golden There was another white flash, and everyone closed their eyes.

Slowly, Luke's eyes blinked open. When his vision cleared, he saw that the dead end wall had disappeared. Instead, the tunnel now continued, with an orange light visible at the end.

"Well, that's one way to do it," Karyn commented.

"How did you do that?" Sonic asked.

"I think it only opens to Luke's touch, and only when he has his sword," Tails said thoughtfully.

"Come on, let's go!" Sonic told them, walking on.

The tunnel was short, but pitch-black. The light grew bigger and bigger until they walked through another threshold and into the final room.

They all gasped.

Around them was the strangest room they had ever seen. All around them were clay-like walls, strange drawings inscribed on them in a flow-like system around the dome shaped room. The drawings seemed to tell a story, with some familiar figures in them. On the top and bottom of the lines of pictures were some strange glyphs, a type of writing. A golden chandelier hung from the top of the dome. The flames burning on it seemed to burn without any visual candle or source. Inscribed on the ground, in at the very center of the dome-shaped room was the same symbol: a ring with seven small circles, and a four pointed star in the middle of it. However, something was different. Instead of having a symbol in the middle of the seven small circles, there was a carving in each one. A carving in the shape of an emerald, each a different color.

"What is this?" Amy wondered.

"Amazing...," Tails awed. He pulled out a techpad, a small electronic pad with all types of uses. He walked to the opposite edge of the room, and began to take pictures of the strange glyphs with the techpad.

"I've never seen anything like it," Karyn marveled as she touched one of the drawings on the wall. "Luke?"

There was no reply. She turned around to face him. "Luke?" she asked again.

"What's wrong?"

Luke was standing completely still. His eyes were solely fixed on the strange symbol in the middle of the floor. Slowly, he started to take small, quiet steps to the symbol. Karyn and the others simply stared confoundedly. His legs began to tremble as he got closer and closer to the center. Step by step, he walked until he stood in the center of the symbol.

As soon as he stopped, the symbol started to glow a golden light once more. One by one, each of the seven outer symbols began to glow, each a different color. The carvings in the shape of emeralds started to shine a bright, white light. Suddenly, the carvings began to come out of the symbols and began to hover in midair as they morphed into real emeralds. Once they were emeralds, the bright light faded to reveal seven emeralds, each one a different color. The emeralds began to circle Luke as they hovered in midair.

"Wow...," Karyn said amazed.

"What...what is this?" Sonic wondered as he watched the emeralds.

"I don't know," Luke answered. He couldn't describe it, but he felt a rush of energy as he saw the emeralds. He stretched out his hand to touch one. As soon as he did however, the emeralds began to sparkle. There was a final flash of light, and the emeralds were gone.

Suddenly, a voice behind them laughed.

"Bravo, bravo. You've just managed what I could have never done by myself."

**Cliffhanger!**

**Who is the mysterious voice? What will happen to the group? Will I ever update at a decent pace?**

**Find out next chapter!**

**I do not own Sonic, any of the cannon characters, locations, etc.**

**ALL ORIGINAL characters, locations, plot concepts, etc. belong to ME and are Copyright 2013.**


	4. The Dawn of Adventures

**ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNND ANOTHER LONG WAIT! Isn't that GREAT!:P. Seriously, I need to focus more on this. While school can be VERY time consuming, I still don't think it is a valid excuse for updating at the pace I do. I'm not giving up though, and here comes the exciting conclusion to our heroes' first adventure! - MH**

Sonic and the others turned around and gasped.

Behind them was the strangest arrangement of creatures that had ever seen. In the front were eight strangely-shaped, four legged creatures that moved in a wolf-like motion. Behind them were three tall, imposing creatures. Both of the two different species were made out of a sleek, reflective gray armor. The taller creatures carried a strange gray gun with glowing streaks of red. In the other hand, each wielded a blade-like melee weapon of ionized energy, which glowed blue and was in the shape of a vertically stretched heart. The taller creatures also had some type of metal mask that covered what Sonic assumed must be their faces.

"Take care of them," the mysterious figure behind them growled. Luke and the others could not get a good look at it however, for the figure was hidden behind shadows. Not only that, but when Sonic looked closely, it also seemed that the figure was made out of some type of darkness. Suddenly, the figures eyes glowed red. It lashed its arms up, and a sudden gust of black wind kicked up, covering the figure and disorientating Sonic and the group. When they looked up, the figure had disappeared.

Sonic and the others were confused. Before they could do anything however, one of the three tall creatures pointed it's weapon directly at them.

"GET DOWN!" Sonic warned them. Everyone began to dive out of the way. Sonic threw himself to the right, barely in time to dodge the gun's blast, which hit the earth wall he had been next to moments before.

All three tall creatures raised their weapons and began to fire. The smaller creatures had no guns, but Sonic and the others soon discovered that they had a much more dangerous weapon: their metal jaws. True to their wolf nature, the creatures charged at the group, feinting, nipping, and trying to bite them.

Sonic dashed left and right as he dodged the enemy's fire. Luke pulled out his sword and attempted to get close enough to one of the creatures. Amy pulled out her hammer and began to swing at the creatures. Before attempting anything else, Luke turned around, stretched out his sword, and a gush of water shot out. The water shot towards Karyn and Tails, who was still trying to analyze the glyphs. The water spread itself out around them, forming a dome of water that covered them both and protected them from attacks.

Distracted by this, Sonic barely had time to dodge one of the wolf creatures as it lunged at him. Luke tried to slash at one of the tall creatures, but it reacted in time and brought up its energy blade to clash with the sword. Amazingly, the sword held. Knuckles tried to take advantage of the distraction to hit one of the creatures from behind. Right at that moment though, one of the wolf creatures that had been yipping at him lunged, and bit his leg.

"AAARGH!" Why you little-," Knuckles growled. Before the creature could do anything, Knuckles picked it up. It tried to break free, but Knuckles locked it in his grip and ripped its head off. There was some sparking, and some wires stuck out of it's head. At the same time however, a small amount of see-through liquid whose rim glowed red spilled out. The head and body fell, the armor clunking on the ground.

"Watch out!" Luke cried. While Knuckles was busy with the creature, another one leaped at his back. Luke quickly raised his sword and charges at it, cutting it in half in mid-jump. Knuckles turned around, saw the destroyed creature and nodded at him. Luke nodded back.

At that moment, the group began their counterattack. One of the tall creatures tried charging at Luke, but he pointed his hand at the creature and a blast of water shot out, throwing the creature back. Two of the small creatures attempted to flank Knuckles, but Sonic quickly began to run around them, speeding up and eventually kicking up a small whirlwind, which shot both of the creatures up, smashing them to pieces as they hit the roof. One of the tall creatures slowly sneaked up on them and was about to slash at him with its energy blade, when Amy jumped out of nowhere and smacked the creature dead on with her hammer. The impact sent the creature flying back, causing one of its metallic arms to break in half. The creature weakly crawled for a few seconds, sparking and oozing more of the see-through rimmed with bright red, before collapsing.

"Whew. Thanks," Sonic looked at her in relief. Amy winked.

The last four wolf creatures tried to line up and all leap at Luke at once, but he closed his eyes, slashed his sword, and a giant wave of fire flew out, engulfing and incinerating the creatures, leaving their charred metal bodies to slump on the ground.

"Nice," Knuckles admired.

The two remaining tall creatures looked around as they were surrounded by Knuckles with his fists, Luke with his sword, Sonic poised on the ground, ready to run, and Amy carrying her hammer. They probably knew that their chances weren't good. Before they could do anything, however, they heard a loud noise coming from the tunnel. They all looked into it, and saw that another squad of about eight of the tall creatures flying towards them, miniature rockets on their feet shooting out green-blue streaks.

"Uh-oh," Sonic said uneasily.

"Can't you take them out with your powers?" Knuckles asked, looking at Luke.

Luke looked at him as if he was insane. "Are you crazy?! I can easily control elements, but producing them out of thin air takes a lot of my energy."

"So what do we do now?" Karyn asked.

Luke looked around, trying to think. Apart from the small flame in the chandelier, there wasn't much to work with. He looked around the room. There wasn't any good sized debris to throw, and if he took out a piece of the wall, the worn-out clay arches supporting the room would give away.

_'The arches...' _he thought. Suddenly an idea popped into his head.

"Knuckles, can you punch some of the arches?" Luke asked.

"You're calling me crazy?!" Knuckles exclaimed in disbelief.

"Just trust me. I have an idea," Luke explained.

"Fine," Knuckles grumbled, walking off. Luke pointed his sword at the chandelier.

"What are you doing?" Karyn asked.

"You'll see," Luke smiled. Everyone looked at him in confusion.

The tall creatures flew on through the tunnel, rocketing towards the entrance to the room. They deactivated their rockets and landed a few feet away from the entrance. Slowly, the group's leader walked towards the entrance. It cautiously peeked its head in. Seeing no immediate danger, it motioned with its head for the group to follow. They all walked into the room, and began to look around. It was pitch black, so they activated their night vision. A faint whoosh could be heard in the room. Looking ahead, the team commander spotted a bulk on the opposite side of the room. The commander slowly walked towards it and crouched down to inspect it. Turning it over, he saw that it was another one of the creatures, a slash mark clear across its torso. Just as the commander started to wonder what had happened, he heard the whoosh of wind abruptly stop.

"NOW!"

Luke dissolved the barrier of wind that had been holding the group in the air near the dome's roof. They all fell, and the creatures looked up in surprise. All of the group members maneuvered themselves so that they each tackled one of the creatures to the ground, Sonic and Knuckles taking down two each.

They all quickly got up immediately after tackling, and began to run to the entrance.

"Come on, go, go!" Sonic told them as they each went through the exit. The creatures stumbled to get up.

After Sonic went through, Luke, the last one, turned around and pointed his sword at the arches. The arches, weak from standing for years and years without maintenance and even more so with Knuckles' punches, had their bricks very loosely standing. Using his powers, Luke pulled down a massive portion of the arches, causing the room to tremble and the roof to crumble. Luke sprinted for the exit, following the rest. The creatures tried to open fire on them, but the room was shaking too violently, and dust began to fall. They tried to chase the group, but before they could act, the roof gave away and giant boulders came crumbling down, smashing the creatures to pieces and forever enclosing the room.

Luke and the others ran through the tunnels. The entire cave was shaking, and pieces of the tunnel roof began to fall. The group sprinted ahead, hoping to outrun the cave-in, but from the rapidly closing tunnel, Sonic could tell that that was not going to happen.

"We're not going to make it!" Amy yelled desperately.

The group ran on until they saw the room with the lava ahead of them. Luke looked behind them and came to the same conclusion as Amy as he saw the cave collapsing quickly behind them. He tried to think quickly as he and the group came to the lava room. Once more, Luke threw his arms out and cleared a path through the lava. A risky idea came to his mind. Looking behind them, however, he decided that he had no choice.

"Everyone, get ready! This might get bumpy!" Luke exclaimed.

"What does THAT mean?" Tails asked uncertainly.

Without answering him, Luke threw his arms out and thrust them up. Bolts of flame shot up from the lava, which united to create a giant tidal wave of fire. Focusing all of his energy, Luke spun around and lashed his sword, creating a violent gust of wind that blew towards the wave of fire, causing the wave to quadruple in size and shoot forward like a cannon shot, sweeping the group along with it.

"WAAAAAAAGH!" Sonic and the others exclaimed as the fire swept them up. Luke focused his energy and power on slowing down the fire just enough to keep it from burning them alive.

The group shot through the tunnels at incredibly high speeds, the fire becoming faster with every single second. Sonic was the only one who didn't feel dizzy. Their vision became a blur, and as he looked forward, Luke saw a faint light. The light grew brighter and brighter as he spun around. The entrance!

There was a deafening BOOM as Sonic and the others burst through the tunnel entrance and into the outside. They all were thrown out into the clearing where they had stood before entering the cave. Sonic tried to get up and looked at the entrance. The shaking continued until the roof of the cave gave away and one final avalanche of boulders fell down, filling the remainder of the cave.

"All things considered..." Luke said , coughing as the dust cleared. He stood up weakly. "...that went a lot better than expected."

"What were those things?" Amy asked, out of breath.

"I'm not sure," Sonic told her, shaking his head.

"What about the symbol on the ground? And those things that came out of it?" Knuckles asked Luke. Luke slowly shook his head.

"Did you get anything, Tails?" Sonic asked him.

"I managed to record some of the symbols and drawings while you were fighting, but I wish I could have gotten all of them. The data would've proved valuable," he said sadly.

Karyn looked at the cave. "Do you think we'll ever go back there?" she asked Luke.

"I don't know," Luke said as they all looked silently at the cave, forever sealed.

Sonic sighed as he laid his back against the tree. He watched as the sun slowly began to set over the horizon. Tails and Knuckles were inside, helping Luke and Karyn set up their rooms. They would be living with them in the team's house, or their "headquarters", as Tails had begun referring to it. Sonic had wanted to help, but there was something bothering him. The way Tails had called their home an HQ added to Sonic's suspicions. Up until now, Sonic had thought he lived a, perhaps not exactly calm, what with fighting off the invasions and all, but a pretty stable, predictable life. However, Luke and Karyn's arrival and the happenings at the cave had somehow signaled the end of such life.

"There you are. Up a tree? Guess that's pretty predictable," a voice came from below.

Sonic looked down. Standing there, looking at him in a curious manner was Amy.

He sighed. "Amy, I'm not really in the mood for this."

"No, I'm not here to do anything," She told him, " I just wanted to sit quietly with you."

Sonic looked at her questioningly. That was strange. Usually, anytime she saw him, Amy would either trap him in a bone-crushing hug, or try to force him to go out with her. Sitting quietly? That was a new one.

"Fine," he eventually said.

Amy climbed the tree, branch by branch, until she got to the one where he was sitting. She quietly scooted to the edge of the branch, sitting herself upright with her legs dangling in the air. A long time passed before she spoke up.

"Sonic?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking. Doesn't it seem strange?"

"What do you mean," he wondered.

"Don't you think it's weird how all this happened so quickly? Just this morning you went off to fight what seemed to be just another battle, yet suddenly Luke comes out of nowhere, saves your life, we learn about his parents and his powers, it leads us off into the cave, we find a strange, ancient room, carvings of emeralds come floating out of the ground and disappear, we get attacked by a bunch of unfamiliar figures, and end up being blasted out of the cave by a wave of fire?" she explained.

The question made Sonic think. She was right. It was all strange._ And yet..._

"Amy, I don't think this is over yet. I can't explain it, but ever since we came out of the cave, I've had this strange feeling of...of foreboding. I think there is still much to come, and...I don't know...It's kind of...unfortunate. I hate to think that our stable life is gone. This has only just begun," He tried to explain.

"Maybe," she said thoughtfully, "but maybe it's not such a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, this is all weird, yet that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to fight. If there's something terrible happening, then it's our job to fix it, no matter what happens," she said in a determined voice.

Sonic looked out into the sunset. He knew Amy was right. The fact that one door had closed only meant that another had just opened. Whatever was in store, he was ready. No, not just ready, eager. As he himself had said, this was only the beginning, the dawn of a new adventure!

**I know, I know, horrible, cheesy ending. Hey what do you expect, I did it in a rush, and it's not like the number of reviews I've gotten has helped. :P. Come on guys, I'm not picky, but it's nice to know that somebody out there appreciates my writing.**

**Anyway, read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Sonic and all other UNORIGINAL characters, locations, etc. DO NOT belong to me. They are property of SEGA.**

**NOTE: All ORIGINAL** **characters, locations, plot concepts belong to ME and are Copyright 2013.**


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